Retention and Recruitment
Nurse shortage continues to be a critical challenge for the healthcare providers, especially future nurse leaders and managers. The high number of retiring nurses mean that nurse leaders and managers must develop effective retention and recruitment strategies to tackle this problem.
Retention of Nurses as a Nurse Leader or Manager
High turnover is a significant challenge to nurse shortage. Nurses are leaving the profession because of poor leadership, work overload and burnout as well as change in career progression. As a nurse leader or manager, it would be imperative to focus on these issues and how to tackle them to retain nurses. Secondly, the creation of a robust workplace culture where nurses get support and their opinions considered as well as valuing their input would help in addressing the problem (Buerhaus et al., 2017). An influential workplace culture would entail rewarding nurse input, recognizing their accomplishments, and considering their perspectives when making decisions. As a leader, I would encourage career advancement to the nurses by giving them educational opportunities and also offer flexible work schedule to eliminate burn out, work related stress and enable them get time for personal life to enhance their satisfaction.
Recruiting Additional Nurses
Nurse leaders should focus on factors that obstruct their organization from attracting top-level nursing candidates that are willing to stay in the professional for long. In recruiting additional nurses, it would be important to uses a data-based hiring approach where I would use questions to determine why the nurse wants to work in the organization as opposed to another. I would also seek to understand the reasons behind them selecting nursing career. Through this approach, it would be possible to understand if nurse candidates fit the organizational requirements and the possibility of them leaving the profession sooner than expected (Buerhaus et al., 2017). Using a referral recruitment strategy would also help to recruit top performers through effective nurses who will offer suggested individuals to join the workforce. Further, I would develop an attractive job description where I would offer an accurate description of the roles, responsibilities and qualifications as well as title. Through this, the organization will attract talented nurses willing to work and offer their best to patients and colleagues. Again, recruitment of additional nurses would be effective through creation of an organizational culture that values individual development, better compensation, flexibility and reduced workload. I would also create an environment where nurses can attain personal growth and development and one where innovation and creativity are highly valued for nurse practitioners.
The Future of Nursing
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its 2010 report on the future of the nursing professional opined that nursing is an expanding field where nurses are strategically placed to be critical care providers. There is an increasing awareness that everyone should have access to proper care. The Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010 to help provide increased access to quality care to all Americans. Nurses will play a significant role as health care needs continue to rise (Smiley et al., 2018). As such, the future of nursing in the next half a century is bright as more studies and government data show that mores nurses will be required to feel the gaps left by retiring colleagues. With over 4 million registered nurses in the country and being considered as the most trusted health professionals, I believe that the demand for nurses will continue with more facilities opening up to increase access. The future of nursing is bright with more nurses enrolling to cater for different health care needs and demands.
References
Buerhaus, P. I., Skinner, L. E., Auerbach, D. I., & Staiger, D. O. (2017). Four challenges facing
the nursing workforce in the United States. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 8(2), 40-46.doi:10.1016/S2155-8256(17)30097-2
Smiley, R. A., Lauer, P., Bienemy, C., Berg, J. G., Shireman, E., Reneau, K. A., & Alexander,
M. (2018). The 2017 national nursing workforce survey. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 9(3), S1-S88.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (as cited in American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2019), over 200,000 new RNs will be needed each year through 2026 to replace nurses who retire and to fill new positions. National Council of State Boards of Nursing and The Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers (as cited in American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2019) reported that about 51% of today’s RNs are 50 years old or older. These are dramatic numbers and represent a challenge for future nurse leaders and managers.
If you were a nurse leader or manager, how would you retain the nurses you have? How would you recruit additional nurses? In your opinion, what do you think the future of the nursing workforce will look like in 50 years?
Your discussion post should look like:
Paragraph one: How would you retain the nurses you have?
Paragraph two: How would you recruit additional nurses?
Paragraph three: What do you think the future of the nursing workforce will look like in 50 years?
Resources: Where did you find your data?
SOLUTION
How would you retain the nurses you have?
According to Finkelman (2020), some of the ways we can retain nurses is to involve them in participation in clinical decision-making, recognize their contributions of knowledge, maintain clinical advancement programs based on education and certification (p. 267-268). Finkelman goes on saying that one of the simple ways to prevent retention problems is to let nurses know they are appreciated. The private hospital that I am currently employed at a full time has a retention problem. The problem is so bad that the CEO of the hospital had to set up meetings with each individual nurse to see what they can do to increase their staff’s retention. According to Nelson-Brantley, Park and Bergquist-Beringer
